Choice of Words
by Deathcrow
Summary: What if the confrontation with the locket Horcrux in the Forest of Dean had played out differently than in canon? Can a small change in circumstances change the fate of the world?


A/N: A weird mood gripped me and I had to write this for some reason. WARNING: This is dark and there is gore and violence. There's no happy end either! Oh and Ron bashing, lots and lots of Ron bashing! With hints of H/Hr.

* * *

The sword flashed, plunged, but stopped in mid-air. The monstrous versions of Harry and Hermione still standing there, twisted into their erotic embrace, as if waiting for something to happen.

"Do it, Ron!"

Ron looked toward him, and Harry thought he saw a trace of scarlet in his eyes.

"Ron – ? Ron! After you left", Harry said in a low voice "she cried for a week. Probably longer, only she didn't want me to see. There were loads of nights when we never even spoke to each other. With you gone..." He lost his voice halfway through.

"What Harry?" Ron asked, his eyes narrowing to slits. "What happened when I was gone?!"

"I… I nothing, Ron. We were sad! Wh-what do you want me to say to you?"

"I… I… nothing, Harry" Ron replied in a mocking tone. "Maybe something a bit more reassuring than this?"

"She… Hermione is very special to me. She's my best friend, Ron. But you have to know that I'd never get between the two of you!"

"But you have!" Ron snarled "You always do! Oh… but of course… the Golden Boy-Who-Lived would never do such a thing. He's just too **PERFECT**! He'd never enter his name in the tournament, it's just by accident and fate that his best mate always gets the short end of the stick! She would have come with me if it weren't for you!"

"Ron..."

"Fuck you Harry! I've seen through your lies!" With an angry crunch Ron's fist broke Harry's nose.

The shapes from the Horcrux slowly transformed into Riddles visage. **"Ron Weasley, all that you desire can come to pass now."** The shade of Riddle laughed. **"** **I** **can not be stopped,** **b** **ut** **I** **reward loyalty…** **Give me** **Harry Potter and your whole family will be** **saved** **:** **Rising f** **rom** **the lowest** **blood traitors to** **the Dark Lord's** **trusted advisors** **and right-hand men** **in one** **fell** **swoop. You can even keep your pet Mudblo** **od as long as you keep her in line!** **"**

In one fluid motion Ron rounded on Harry and the Sword of Gryffindor moved in an arc towards his former best mate, glittering in the moonlight, his eyes shining in a bright red. A loud scream pierced the silence of the night.

* * *

Hermione woke with a gasp and a shiver ran down her spine. Something was wrong. Really wrong.

"Harry?!" She called out in the darkness of the tent. _1.. 2.. 3…_ no response. Panicked she got up and checked Harry's bed. _Empty. Where the bloody hell did he go now?_ Quickly putting on her boots and grabbing her coat she stomped out into the night.

"Good job Hermione, now you've started talking to yourself and still have no clue what to do...". _Did he leave_ _me_ _behind? No, Harry wouldn't do that. He's not Ron. Ugh, better not to think about that prat. She was still working on the speech she'd give the red-head_ _-_ _should they ever meet him agai.. focus! You're alone_ _by_ _the tent and Harry is gone! He can't have gone far, maybe I should just call his name loudly? But… someone might hear. On the other hand… Argh, who cares!_

" **HAAAAARRRY!** "

* * *

A gasping Harry kneeled on the ground. Even though he had been dazed by Ron's sucker punch, he somehow managed to evade the brunt of the sword swing. It was all for naught though, considering the large cut on his shoulder. _This_ _is_ _it. It'_ _s_ _all over now._ There was no Phoenix anywhere close and the fast-acting basilisk venom that the Sword of Gryffindor had been infused with would end his life very soon. Meanwhile Ron was walking up and down anxiously with a deranged expression on his face.

"Shite, shite, shite! Forgot about the prophecy" Ron grabbed the Horcrux and put it around his neck. He seemed extremely agitated. "Got to be by the Dark Lord's hand. Something will go wrong if sidekick Ron kills the hero. No, no, no, no. All wrong."

Harry felt his eyelids starting to get heavier and tried to speak. "Ron… I"

"Oh, come on! Why can't you just shut up for once you stupid prat? Let me think in peace! **Silencio**!" Harry's mouth kept moving, but no sound escaped.

"Who's the superior Wizard now, eh?" A weird panicked chuckle escaped from Ron's throat. "Ah, I've got it. Emergency Stasis Charm! I'm so glad Herms taught us how to do it for situations exactly like this!" Ron stopped pacing. "What first… what first. Ah right, stunning the patient. **Stupefy!** "

Harry's world went black.

* * *

Hermione felt like an idiot now. Her throat hurt and clearly what she was doing here did no one any good.

She'd have to start searching for her best friend. Maybe he fell in the woods and was lying unconscious with a head wound and bleeding out right now. She was starting to panic. _What did those survival 101 books teach about a situation like this? Oh, right. Deep breaths. Panic leads to fatal mistakes._ _Got to get the heart-rate down._ _Breath in. Breath out._

 _Okay. This_ _is_ _much better_ _already_ _._ Almost immediately she felt like she could think clearly again and remembered that she was indeed a witch and not a lost little girl. She quickly cast the Supersensory Charm on herself followed by a confident albeit slightly cracked voice calling out "Homenum Revelio".

Still nothing.

Again! "Homenum Revelio"

Still… No. Or maybe? Maybe there was something. She had felt something… like a slight tugging sensation from a direction on her left. Hermione turned her head and focused her hearing in the direction where she felt the magic pulse. There! It was very faint, but she could have sworn she heard the breaking of a branch. Slowly she started to move towards it, holding her wand in front of her, using Lumos like a searchlight.

After struggling through another thicket she finally saw a human silhouette in the distance. But something wasn't right. The person didn't look like Harry and there was some kind of large... something… floating next to the intruder. Did Harry get caught by a Death Eater? She intensified her Lumos and pointed it right into the eyes of the potential enemy moving towards her.

"Who's there?" She called out, desperately trying to keep her voice steady.

"Calm down Herms, it's just me!"

* * *

" **R** **on** **?!** " This was the last person she would have expected.

She started moving towards him. _What_ _is_ _Ron doing here? How did he find_ _us_ _?_ _Is our_ _security compromised? Where's Harry? Why_ _is_ _Ron levitating a huge lump through the forest?_ As she got closer to her, maybe former – _I've still got to make my mind up about that_ , friend she realized that the weird lump wasn't a lump, it was a person. "Ohmygodharry! Where… how… what..."

Ron gave her a little smirk. "Well, seems like I got there just in time. He must've nicked himself on this thing right here"

This was the first time that Hermione even noticed the Sword of Gryffindor hanging loosely in Ron's left hand. "But… where… how?" Her thoughts were racing at what felt like a million miles per minute.

"I have no idea Herms. I found him like this with the Sword right next to him in the snow. I think he might've been going for a swim in the pond… Bloody bonkers!"

Hermione furrowed her brow. Something didn't add up here. Suddenly her thoughts came to a screeching halt. _Sword of Gryffindor! Basilisk venom!_ "Is… Is he dead?" Harry's arm felt cold to the touch and she couldn't find a pulse, but she couldn't have found a pulse on anyone considering her panicked state.

"No! Don't worry Herms. I already told you, I saved him just in time! You're brilliant you know? I've put him under the Stasis thingy."

"Oh Ron, but that's only going to work for a few hours at most. Where are we going to get Phoenix Tears on such short notice?"

"I don't know yet Herms. I think I've got a plan, but lets keep moving to the tent, alright?"

She gave a weary sigh and started to follow Ron, the floating form of Harry between them. She pointed her Lumos towards the body of her best friend to check his injury. _Wait._ His face didn't look right. _Why is there so much blood? Is_ _that a broken nos_ _e?_ _...and..._ _that…_ _that's_ _a huge gash in his shoulder. How could he have possibly "nicked" himself there?_

"Ron, please stop."

"What's up Herms? We've got to hurry." He sounded out of sorts. "Time is of the essence! No time to dillydally, hehe!"

"What.. What's going on Ron? This looks like a battle wound..." Stammered Hermione while pointing at her best friend.

Ron sighed. "Herms, I don't know… that's how I found him… I already told you. Why do you always have to be such a know-it-all?"

Hermione glared at Ron angrily. "Well it certainly looks like battle wound to me Ronald! Don't be daft! Maybe Harry got in a fight with someone? This could be a trap… maybe we're surrounded by Death Eaters." She huffed loudly. " **Stop, Ron. Stop moving!** Put Harry down on the ground and lets think about things. We've got to be smart!"

They stopped and Ron glared right back at her, while tossing the Sword of Gryffindor onto the ground with a frustrated grunt. "I hope you know what you're doing!"

"We've got to think this through Ron." Hermione furrowed her brow while thinking out loud "But then… why… why are you so unconcerned? It's as if… wait, where's the Horcrux? Harry was wearing it, but I don't see it" Hastily her nimble fingers moved around Harry's neck to make sure it wasn't there. As she finished her inspection, lifting her eyes from Harry's prone form towards Ron, she encountered the business end of his wand pointing right at her face. The wand itself was just a blip on her radar: The only thing her mind could focus on at this particular moment in time were Ron's bloody knuckles holding it. _Is that Harry's blood? Or Ron's? Maybe a little of both..._

"Why can't you ever let things go Herms? We would have been fine! But no. You can't stop working that beautiful brain of yours. Always worrying about poor little Harry. Imagine how happy we could be if you used your brains for our relationship instead of a lost cause, hm?"

Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing. The outline of the locket was now obvious under Ron's shirt, a slight scarlet shimmer escaping its confines. "Ron, you betrayed your best friend!"

" **He betrayed me first**!" Ron roared. "Lots of times! He just never gives… only take, take, take! Being best friends with the Boy-Who-Bloody-Lived is constant betrayal. And now he took you. That was the last straw Herms. But I'll always come back for you"

"Took me?! What are you talking about? Are you insane Ron?! You abandoned us!"

She turned swiftly and extended her elbow toward Ron, but he deftly evaded her strike and gave her a shove. Hermione lost her balance, tumbling to the ground. "What have you done, Ron?" Her knees and hands were bleeding now, but she hardly even noticed.

"You'll learn soon enough." Ron sneered down at her, tucking his wand into his pocket. "Get up! The Dark Lord has already won, we have to save our own lives now. There's still hope for us, we don't have any prophecy hanging over our heads!"

"Never!" Twisting on the ground Hermione tried to sweep Ron's feet, but he barely stumbled. Nimbly she pushed herself off the ground and tried to claw at Ron's face.

"Geshh off me!" Shrieked Ron.

"No!" Hermione swung her leg towards the one place where it would hurt her male opponent the most and was sure she got a good hit in when the air escaped Ron's lungs in a loud wince.

"Enough!" Ron yelled while barely staying on his wobbly legs, swaying backwards a few steps. " **Diffindo!** "

Hermione hadn't even realized that Ron had drawn his wand again. By some miracle she managed to twist her body out of the way of the curse. It was almost as if the spell feedback flowed through her body. She had no idea that such close proximity to a spell could feel so electric. It was the weirdest sensation. " **Ronald Bilius Weasley, I can't believe you cast a lethal spell at me… I could have died!"**

For some reason Ron just stared at her with a blank expression on his face. _That's strange, why isn't he yelling back? Something is weird._ Slowly she looked in the direction where just seconds ago the cutting curse glanced her and was surprised to see her left hand on the ground, a trickle of blood spraying from her arm. _Ah, that_ _would_ _explain it. This must be what_ _going into_ _shock feels like._ Settling into a strange calmness she slowly raised her wand. Ron was still not moving at all.

" **DEPULSO!"**

With cold objectivity she observed how Ron was lifted at least 3 meters into the air and started to fly - like a bullet shot from a gun - in a high arc through the forest. _How much does Ron weigh?_ _This must_ _be_ _one of the strongest banishing charms anyone at_ _my_ _age has have ever cast. Not even Harry. He'd be so prou…_ A sickening crunch interrupted her thoughts as Ron crashed into a tree, then fell towards the ground.

"Get up you git!" Hermione cried, now delirious with anger. Slowly she moved towards her ex-friend, a trail of blood following her path in the white snow.

As she approached Ron she yelled again, "I told you to get up!". _Still nothing!_ She gave him a hard kick in the side, cracking at least one of his ribs. From the force of her kick Ron's body started to slump over revealing why he wasn't going to get up any time soon. Chunks of brain matter were clearly visible on the back of his split skull.

Hermione dropped to the ground panting and emptied her stomach next to the body of her dead friend. She was starting to feel a little tired now – _must be the bloodloss_ \- and slowly dragged herself over to the body of the only friend she had left now.

* * *

Harry looked so peaceful. Should she just leave him like this? No, they were well hidden here and he'd die anyway. They'd do one last thing together now.

" **F** **-f-f** **inite inc** **-c-c-** **antat** **tt-t** **em. Ennervate!"** She had trouble speaking now. _Pull yourself together girl. Only for a moment!_

Harry sounded weak "'Mione. Wha… what are you doing here?"

"Ssshhh, it's okay now Harry. I'm here for you." She focused all her willpower on not sounding terrified, laying herself right next to Harry, resting her good hand on his cheek.

"Where's R-R-on?" Harry's teeth were chattering from hypothermia. "The Horcrux, it c-c-ontrolled..."

"I know Harry. He-he ran away after he realized what he did."

"Oh.. okay then. 'Mione, I… I'm not g-g-going to make it."

Hermione was lying on her side, hiding her bloody stump in the snow from the best friend that anyone can ever ask for. The coldness started to feel comforting now. She stared into his bright green eyes. "Oh Harry..."

"'Mione… you need… to know… you've always been like a sister to me. I love you so much."

Tears were now running freely down Hermione's face. "I love you too, Harry." Moments before unconsciousness gripped her she turned her head and placed a chaste kiss on the lips of Harry Potter. His eyes were closed.

* * *

A/N: I know Diffindo isn't a curse, but I needed a cutter that wasn't as overkill as Sectumpsempra. Lets just assume for this fic that there's a combat version of the household spell.


End file.
